Chapter 373

In the second half of 1895, there was actually one more thing worth mentioning, which was the second war of independence that broke out in Cuba.

Since Spain and Britain swapped colonies, Spain had already given up its attention to the Cuban colony. But Spain giving up attention did not mean that these people in Cuba who wanted to seek independence did not exist.

On the contrary, because the colony was swapped to the British, those Cubans who wanted independence turned their hatred from the Spaniards to the British.

As early as a few years ago, these people wanted to launch a revolution within Cuba, but they were soon suppressed by the British.

Britain's naval power far exceeded Spain's; mobilizing a few warships to dock on the Cuban coast could easily make the Cubans give up the idea of an uprising.

No way, in fact, Cuba was narrow in the north and south and wide in the east and west, right? Especially the area where Havana, the capital of the Cuban colony, was located, was the narrowest place in the entire Cuban territory.

The British fleet could not only easily threaten Cuba's capital, Havana, but also threaten Cuba's other important cities and agricultural areas.

If the Cubans were still ignorant, the sugarcane they mainly planted would be directly destroyed by the British, which would cause a serious blow to Cuba's economy.

The sugar industry was Cuba's economic pillar and also the reason why these Cuban immigrants were wealthy. They could incite the black people in Cuba to resist the colonial government, but they absolutely could not accept their plantations being destroyed because of the war.

Britain's strong suppression made the Cuban white people give up the idea of seeking independence, but they soon welcomed a new opportunity a few years later.

This so-called opportunity was actually Britain's Boer War.

The Boer War let the world see Britain's shortcomings in the army and also let the Cubans see the hope of obtaining independence.

However, wanting to obtain an independent status in Britain's colonial system was still quite difficult. In order to increase their chances of winning, these white people in the Cuban colony decided to find a few allies and supporters for themselves.

Those who could support Cuba in seeking independent status must be Britain's competitors or enemies.

The first thing these white people in Cuba thought of was France.

No way, France did too well in this regard. The reason why the thirteen colonies of the United States could become independent under Britain's colonial rule was that France had contributed a lot at that time.

The American founding father Louis XVI not only provided a large amount of war loans to the thirteen colonies at that time but also provided many weapons, equipment, ammunition, and material supplies.

This was not over yet. In order to avenge the defeat to the British in the North American Seven Years' War, France also mobilized a portion of its army to directly join the American War of Independence.

It was precisely the desperate help of the French that allowed the thirteen colonies, which had only two or three million people at the time, to successfully become independent from Britain's rule.

And the American founding father Louis XVI, because of his luxurious life and multiple wars leading to financial losses, eventually triggered domestic turmoil in France due to the economic crisis, leading to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

From this aspect, one could also see that the hatred between Britain and France was indeed not shallow. Under such circumstances, Britain and France could still put aside their past grievances and work together to fight against Germany, which could better reflect how powerful Germany was in World War I.

Before launching the independence uprising, the white people in the Cuban colony specifically found the French government to seek help from the French government.

Unfortunately, the French government at this time was no longer the French government of the Louis XVI period, and a small Cuba was not as promising as the original thirteen colonies.

The French government agreed to provide support to the Cuban colony, but it was only limited to a certain amount of military loans and resources of weapons, equipment, and supplies.

Wanting France to send troops was far from possible, and even this military loan was only lent to Cuba by France because it saw that Cuba's sugar industry was still quite prosperous.

Although the French government's support was limited, this could not make the Cuban revolution leaders discouraged. The reason was also very simple: in addition to France's support, the white people in Cuba also obtained support from the United States.

In this time period of history, the United States was already preparing for war with Spain. The United States had long coveted Cuba at its doorstep, and they also used the Spain in history as a stepping stone to declare the strength of the United States.

And now, because the Cuban colony had been swapped to the British, the United States' situation in Cuba was not so unscrupulous.

Although these Cuban white people seeking independence had the support of the United States behind them, the Americans hid themselves more, and they were also unwilling to offend Britain under such circumstances.

Don't look at the fact that the United States had developed so rapidly in the 100 years since its independence; in fact, the United States still had a large gap with European great powers.

The main reason for the United States' industrial and economic prosperity was that the land of North America possessed rich mineral resources and natural resources, coupled with various gold rushes that attracted a large number of immigrant populations, allowing the United States' economy and industry to achieve long-term take-off.

But in terms of industrial foundation, the United States could not compare to the mainstream powerful countries in Europe. Whether it was talent reserves or industrial technology, the United States and countries like Britain, France, and Germany were a level behind, and in terms of industrial foundation, they were only on par with countries like Austria and Spain.

Of course, foundation was foundation, but the United States' total industrial scale was still very powerful.

But if the total industrial scale could not be transformed into military strength, there would be no great improvement in national status.

When Americans ranked the world, they would also consider ranking the United States in the top four or five in the world.

But if Europeans were to write a world national ranking, let alone the top five, it would be good for the United States to keep the world's sixth throne.

Because most people, when considering a country's comprehensive strength, would consider the ranking in military aspects more.

The United States' army did not need to be said; the current army scale had been cut to a pitiful tens of thousands, not even catching up to the fraction of European great power countries.

The United States' navy had a certain scale, but compared to European great power countries, it was also at the bottom. If it were not for the fact that the United States' industry and economy were indeed good, the United States might only be at the bottom among the great powers.

Such a phenomenon was indeed completely different from the history of later generations.

In fact, the reason why the United States could become the world hegemon after World War II was because of the blood-sucking of Europe by the two world wars.

Before World War I, the United States was just an ordinary great power in the world. Let alone super great powers like Britain, France, and Germany looking down on the United States, even Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy, when talking about the United States, often would not look at it straight.

At this time, the United States' role in the world was just an upstart, a country that had no foundation but possessed good industry and economy.

Precisely because of the outbreak of World War I, the United States first used its status as a neutral country to trade extensively with both sides of the war, not only transforming from a debtor country to a creditor country but also obtaining a large amount of gold, paper currency, and other resources from European countries.

Many Europeans who came to the United States to escape the super war enriched the United States' talent reserves.

Among them, the more famous ones were famous scientists like Albert Einstein and Theodore von Kármán.

Einstein naturally did not need to be said; this was the top theoretical scientist in the field of physics. As for Theodore von Kármán, this scientist also made outstanding contributions in the fields of aerospace and rockets.

It was precisely because the United States obtained the support of these scientists who came to avoid war from Europe that it made up for the problem of insufficient talent reserves in industrial technology and scientific fields, and then caught up with European countries in science and technology.

And in 1895, when the two world wars had not yet occurred, the United States was not only behind the four traditional European great powers of Britain, France, Germany, and Russia in the world ranking of powerful countries, but also had to rank behind Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ranking only in front of Italy, ranking seventh in the world.

Of course, some newspapers that were more optimistic about the United States would also rank the United States above the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ranking sixth in the world behind Spain.

This was about the peak of the current United States. From this aspect, one could also see why the United States went through long preparations before launching the Spanish-American War; in this era, not only did Europeans look down on the United States, but many Americans themselves were not very optimistic about their own country's military strength.

Just when these Cuban white people had support from France and the United States and considered themselves sufficient to launch an independence uprising, officials from Spain's Puerto Rico colony found them again, indicating that Spain was willing to provide them with a military loan and sell them weapons, equipment, and supplies at a price lower than the market price.

The Puerto Rico colony was the only colony Spain had left in the Americas. This colony was specifically retained by Gao Da when the Cuban colony was swapped. This could also be considered Spain's last gateway in the Americas. If they lost Puerto Rico, Spain's colonial scope would completely withdraw from the Americas, which also meant that Spain was completely saying goodbye to its once glorious history.

Anyway, Puerto Rico was further east of Cuba; as long as the Americans' brains were not twitching, it was impossible to cross Cuba to find trouble with the Spaniards in Puerto Rico.

The Puerto Rico colonial government's usual behavior was relatively low-key. After all, it was Spain's last colony in the Americas, and Puerto Rico was separated from the Spanish mainland by an entire Atlantic Ocean, making it difficult to get help from the Spanish mainland in time when encountering danger.

Spain stationed an entire colonial garrison regiment here, plus the local police in Puerto Rico, which could have an armed scale of more than 2,500 people.

The reason why so many troops were stationed in the small Puerto Rico was mainly because there were not few residents in Puerto Rico.

Before Spain gave up the Cuban colony, the number of residents in the Cuban colony was about 500,000 to 600,000.

And Puerto Rico's area was less than one-tenth of Cuba's, but its population had already reached more than one-sixth of Cuba's.

It is worth mentioning that whether it was the Cuban colony or Puerto Rico, the population calculated was only those recognized white people and yellow people.

If one wanted to count the large number of black labor in the local area, whether it was Cuba or Puerto Rico, the population would have to be multiplied several times.

The population of Cuba during the Spanish rule was only 500,000 or 600,000, and after the United States obtained Cuba and conducted population statistics, Cuba's population soon approached the scale of 2 million.

The biggest change in this was that the United States regarded black people as citizens, and a large number of black people who were not originally counted as population also became residents of Cuba under the control of the United States.

Spain definitely would not count these black people when conducting population statistics, which was also the reason why the population of each colony in Spain's official data had always been small.

If these black populations were calculated, just the population of the Congo territory was at least on the scale of tens of millions. Let alone the Guinea colony, which also possessed more than 10 million black indigenous people; the black population of these colonies combined was more than the Spaniards on the Spanish mainland.

When these Cuban white plantation owners found that the ones who came to them were Spain's Puerto Rico colonial government, they were first a bit surprised, but did not refuse the good intentions from the Puerto Rico colonial government.

Although the Cuban white plantation owners and the Spanish colonial government did have certain frictions before, these contradictions that once existed had long become a thing of the past.

The one currently colonizing Cuba was the British Empire, which had nothing to do with Spain. Even looking at the current relationship between Spain and Britain, if Cuba could seek independence under Britain's colonial rule, it would be a good thing for Spain instead.

As the saying goes, the enemy of an enemy is a friend; based on this idea, the Cuban white plantation owners still contacted the Puerto Rico colonial government and discussed the content of cooperation between the two sides.

Based on the principle of trying to find trouble for the British, Spain was very generous to these Cuban immigrants who once belonged to them.

In addition to providing them with a low-interest loan of up to 5 million pesetas, Spain's weapons could also be purchased by them at will.

This low-interest loan of up to 5 million pesetas could arm an army of tens of thousands; if these Cuban white immigrants were a bit capable, they could completely overthrow Britain's colonial rule in Cuba with this army of tens of thousands.

Of course, even if the combat effectiveness of the Cuban army was relatively poor, it could still cause an impact on Britain's colonial rule in Cuba.

Anyway, no matter what, they could find some trouble for the British; as long as the British had trouble, it was beneficial to Spain.

Spain's help was an unexpected joy for Cuba, which also made these Cuban white people decide to accelerate the outbreak of the independence revolution.

The party led by José Martí calling for Cuban independence officially called for an uprising in Cuba in July 1895 and received a response from the public across Cuba a few days later.

Counting the black population, Cuba, which had less than 2 million people, managed to gather nearly 10,000 insurgent troops in less than a month.

For the sake of their own interests, the white plantation owners incited the black labor in their plantations to join this uprising. The black people were already quite hostile to the colonialists, and they even joined the ranks of the uprising spontaneously without much incitement from the Cuban white plantation owners.

This uprising seeking Cuban independence was carried out in a grand manner, and almost the majority of white people, yellow people, and black people supported this uprising.

In fact, this was also because of the special nature of the Cuban colony. Because of the developed sugar industry, although the Cuban colony was small in area and small in population, its income ranked among the top of all colonies in all countries in the world.

It was precisely because of this that the colonial government had to collect a large amount of taxes from these plantations every year. If they could obtain independence, these white plantation owners would pay less colonial taxes, which was also the reason why they tried every means to promote Cuban independence.

The uprising team reaching the scale of 10,000 people was not Cuba's limit. Britain's Cuban colonial government suppressed this uprising, but they soon found that forced suppression had no effect at all.

The more they suppressed, the more intense the resistance of these Cubans would be. Originally, only a few cities responded to José Martí's call, but after suppressing and suppressing, it became a response from almost all of Cuba.

Now the British government finally knew the reason why Spain gave up the Cuban colony. Although Cuba could provide a large amount of financial tax revenue during the peaceful and stable period, if the Cubans wanted to seek independence, the movement would not be small.

How much tax was collected from Cuba before, all of it had to be invested when suppressing the rebellion. Britain, like Spain, had to fight across the ocean if it wanted to pacify Cuba.

Even if Canada could provide a portion of supplies for the Cuban battlefield, it still could not change the fact that suppressing the rebellion in Cuba required a large amount of additional military expenditure.

For the British, Cuba could not be lost.

The British used several colonies in West Africa to exchange for Cuba; it would be a strange thing if they let it go so easily.

Fortunately, Cuba was just an island country, and Cuba was surrounded by Britain's sphere of influence; even if the Cuban issue was temporarily shelved, it would not affect Britain's sovereignty over Cuba.

For the British government, since these Cubans wanted to make a scene, let them make a scene in this region of Cuba for the time being.

To the north of Cuba was Britain's Bahamas, and to the south was Britain's Jamaica colony. To the southwest was Britain's Honduras colony, almost completely surrounded by Britain's colonies.

Under such circumstances, even if the Cubans controlled the Cuba region, they could not develop stably.

Precisely because of this reason, Britain decided to temporarily give up Cuba and concentrate all of Cuba's limited military forces in the colonial capital, Havana, giving up all Cuban areas east of Havana.

As long as they held the capital of the Cuban colony, it meant that Britain still possessed the sovereignty of this land. No matter how much the Cubans made a scene, they only had a population of over one million; as long as Britain solved the Boer War, these restless Cubans would only be a matter of days for Britain to solve.

Britain's decision to temporarily give up Cuba made the Cuban independence uprising even more lively.

In the two months since the Cubans launched the uprising, they obtained a large amount of weapons and equipment from France, Spain, and the United States.

Just rifles alone, they gathered more than 20,000; these rifles were enough for Cuba to establish a powerful army.

The Cubans did indeed do so. It was just that in the Cuban army, black people seemed to be the majority.

White plantation owners would not personally join the army to fight; it was already quite good that they could send a few black laborers from the plantation.

Black people occupied the majority of the Cuban army, yellow people occupied a portion, and white people were only a small minority.

The combat effectiveness of an army with such a racial proportion was naturally not very good, which was the reason why Britain chose to temporarily give up the land in eastern Cuba; otherwise, whether these troops could occupy Cuba was a problem.

Only 5,000 words today, delayed by something. As compensation, increase the 10,000-word update by one day (need three more days of 10,000-word updates), thanks for the support!

(End of this chapter)